I have an arduino Project and i am using all the I/O Pins. i would like to make it a much smaller and cheaper unit for a project. What would i be able to use to kinda replace what the Arduino Does. Please Help

What part of the Arduino functionality would you like to keep?At a minimum you need:the '328P16 MHz crystraltwo 22pF caps100nF caps on VCC, AVCC pinsusing analog? need 100nF cap on the Aref pin10K reset pullup resistordiode such as 1N4158 across the resistor (anode to reset pin, cathode to Vcc)

optional:Header pins to connect FTDI Basic/FTDI cable, and 100nF cap to connect to Reset pinorheader pins to connect to ICSP header for rebootloading or for installing bootloaderless sketches

place to connect 5V wallwart, or a battery, or a 5V regulator

Here's an example for a ATmega1284P type board, a '328P would use a smaller connectorThis one has both FTDI and ICSP headers, but does not have the diode.It has screw terminal for bring in 5V power from a wallwart or 4.5V from a triple-AA battery pack (I've used both)

What part of the Arduino functionality would you like to keep?At a minimum you need:the '328P16 MHz crystraltwo 22pF caps100nF caps on VCC, AVCC pinsusing analog? need 100nF cap on the Aref pin10K reset pullup resistordiode such as 1N4158 across the resistor (anode to reset pin, cathode to Vcc)

optional:Header pins to connect FTDI Basic/FTDI cable, and 100nF cap to connect to Reset pinorheader pins to connect to ICSP header for rebootloading or for installing bootloaderless sketches

place to connect 5V wallwart, or a battery, or a 5V regulator

Here's an example for a ATmega1284P type board, a '328P would use a smaller connectorThis one has both FTDI and ICSP headers, but does not have the diode.It has screw terminal for bring in 5V power from a wallwart or 4.5V from a triple-AA battery pack (I've used both)

Your idea seems like what i am looking for. basically what i am wanting to do is make a unit that uses the atmega328 chip as the brain so i need all the outputs but dont need all the other things like the serial com or all of the analogue inputs. all i need is the I/O pins. could you please help with a schematic of your board or if you could help with exactly what i need?Thanks

Yes. You can use a Mega328 (28 pins), a Tiny2313 (20 pins), a Tiny84 (14 pins), a Tiny85 (8 pins)... whatever suits your requirements. All of them will work with no external components (although it's a good idea to put in at least a decoupling capacitor).

Bootloaders are optional. In fact I don't recommend them for bare chips, get a $12 ISP programmer instead so you can configure the chip's "fuse" options as well as upload code.

No, I don't answer questions sent in private messages (but I do accept thank-you notes...)

If you are only doing a one off project, have you considered just buying a teensy board?http://www.pjrc.com/teensy/It is about as small as you can get and often for one offs, even the cost at $16is very competitive to a DIY prototype using a perf/stripboard unlessyou happen to have components laying around.